Thom Barker: It’s always the worst of times… or does it just seem that way?

When I was in high school there was a group of us who fancied ourselves poets and artists and pacifists. One of the places conducive to highfalutin discussions on topics of politics and society and violence was art class, in which instruction was less structured and hands-on work could be completed while solving the ills of the world.

One afternoon our art teacher overheard our laments about what violent and uncertain times we lived in and weighed in on our discussion disputing the contention that the world of the late 1970s was as violent and uncertain as we were making it out to be.